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Wonder Woman #34 review

Having learned that she has a twin brother, Wonder Woman has located Jason in Greece, and it turns out that parentage isn’t the only thing they share.

They have questions. Diana wants to know why, given his foster father Glaucus told him of his background, he never sought out Diana. Jason wants to know why their mother, Hippolyta, never visited him.

Diana wants Jason of the threat of Grail, the daughter of Darkseid, who’s been transferring power to the currently stunted master of Apokolips by killing children fathered by Zeus. Which includes them.

I’ve been anticipating - note, not looking forward to - a meeting between the new Wonder Twins since Geoff Johns decided Diana had a brother in Justice League awhile back. I’m no fan of the New 52 Daughter of Zeus origin, and this doubles down on that nonsense (hypocrisy alert - they did the same thing in the Seventies when Nubia was introduced as Diana’s Black sister, and I was fine, because she looked cool). But this is what new writer James Robinson has been given to work with, and in his first few issues he’s written a very likeable, capable Diana. The conflict that emerges here progresses the Grail storyline nicely, and I’m keen to see where Robinson goes with this; so far he deserves praise for making a silk purse out of a sow’s concept.

I especially like his dialogue, which has the patterns of natural speech, and a playfulness alongside the inevitably heavy moments that come when a lunatic demi-goddess is stalking you. Great cliffhanger, too.

Sergio Davila does a fine job translating Robinson’s script to the page, making the scenes of conversation lively and always ensuring the characters have, well, character. When Diana and Jason swap stories at a ruined lighthouse, for instance, he has Diana testing her balance on a wall, baby Jason in flashback is adorable and Jason’s fishing crew are a rum lot.

And the action sequence towards the end is just spectacular. Three inkers on the book - Mick Gray, Scott Hanna and Eber Ferreira - don’t harm the look, as they’re all good and their styles aren’t so far apart, plus, talented colourist Romulo Fajardo Jr smooths out any bumps.

Once again we get two covers - illustrator Bryan Hitch and colourist Alex Sinclair provide a striking image for the regular version, while Tony S Daniel and Tomeu Morey offer an issue 700 variant that provides a whiff of Gal Gadot without getting the lawyers worried.

With Robinson at the helm, this is my favourite Wonder Woman in years.

Comments

I have to say, I was enjoying this issue more before the swerve. I liked the easy camaraderie between Jason and Diana; I thought Robinson did such a good job writing those scenes that it makes me doubt what comes after.

I'm not sure if it's a double bluff...but I just felt like the friendly pages were written more convincingly than the heel turn. Their sibling conversation was distinctive and had Robinson's eye for detail. The swerve dialogue seemed more generic, like Robinson's heart wasn't in it (despite the great tsunami attack).

That could be a signal that it's a double bluff. Or it could just be that we were on the verge of getting something unusual and fun and instead got served the same old meatloaf.

I'm more a 'magic clay' origin guy than daughter if Zeus. I don't know if I even like the idea of Jason. But this issue was a nice conversation. I like Robinson's exchange between these two who are just meeting.The ending was interesting and I suppose makes some modicum of sense. And I thought the art was pretty good as well!

Oh yeah, I’m clay all the way. I loved that buy about Steve wearing many hats, it seemed Robinson was winking at us, as in the earlier issue in which Diana admitted even she doesn’t know what her origin is but wasn’t the least but angsty about it.

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